Suction cleaner



Dm4 1s, 1928. 1,695,989

W. EY SHERBONDY sUcTIoN CLEANER Filed Aug. 14, 1923 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 UM Swag/f Dec. 1s, 1928. 1,695,984

w. E. sHERBoNDY SUCTION CLEANER 11TH/*61111022 I Patented Dele. 1s, 192s.

UNITED STATI-:s PATENT oFFlcE.

WILLIAM' E. SHEBBONDY, 0F CLEVELAND, OHIO.

SUOTION' CLEANER.

Appuoatiun mea August v14, 192s. serial no. 657,294.

moved in one direction, a suiciently high.

s eed will be imparted to the fan to cause the same to rotate vduring a subsequent period in which the cleaner and incidently the driving wheels are bein moved in an opposite direction. This o essential requirement in suction cleaner motors of the mechanical type, wherefore the general object of the present invention is the provision of a novel arrangement of the fan propeller mechanism and the fan as well as the driving wheels upon a single housing member forming only a small portion of the entire cleaner casing, whereby an extreme degree of accuracy may be obtained in manufacturing the cleaners without increasing the expense thereof. To this end, I arrange the driving wheels, the housing, propeller shaft and fan in the nature of a unitary cooperative mechanism readily attachable to that portion of the cleaner casing comprising the nozzle'and fan housing.

In conjunction with the foregoing object, there is another object of my invention which is directed to the provision of a suction cleaner casing which will offer a minimum resistance to the suction action ofthe fan and 'the movement of extraneous, collected particles. Hence, I make provision for unusually large, unobstructed passageways from the nozzle opening tothe fan casing and from the fan casing through a dust bag exhaust port positioned at a low level relative to the'nozzle intake whereby only a minimum lift is required to de osit the dust in the bag. This I accomplis without in'- terfering with the economy and accuracy in manufacture afforded by the above related arrangement.

course, 1s an A. more specific object of my invention is the provision of a simplified form of gearingl and clutch mechanism for a fan motor of the character referred-to, which may be directly associated with the driving wheels ofv the cleaner and the supporting shaft therefor.

Other objects will hereinafter be set forth in the following description which refers to the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment thereof. The essentlal characteristics of my invention are summarized 1n the cla1ms.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a suction cleaner of the. mechanically driven type and which embodies the novel features of my invention; Fig. 2 is a crosssectional plan View taken substantially along the line 2-2of Fig. 1 and showing the manner in which I prefer to support the fan shaft on a detachable portion of the cleaner casing; Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional elevation taken substantially alongthe line 4 4 of Fig 1; and Fig. 5 is an enlarged crosssectional -view taken through the clutch mechanism substantially along the line 5--5 of Fig. 4:.

Referring to the drawings in Figs. 1 and 2, 10 indicates an integrally formed f an and nozzle casing, the fan casing portion 11 being provided with an offset or tangentially formed elbow 12 to afford a large rearwardly extending air passageway 13, the elbow turning downwardly to be in line with a peripheral enlargement of the fan chamber. I prefer to form the air passageway at as low a level as is'practically possible and I accordingly arrange the entire mechanism to obtaina low disposition of the exhaust port lrelative to the nozzle opening as wi hereinafter set forth.

The elbow portion 12 of the fan casing terminates in an annular flange 19 which may be a part' of a back plate of the casing. About half of this flange is behind the region in which the fan revolves. There is, therefore, a large exhaust port leading directly from lthe l'fan region. This flange l19 may be provided with any suitable dust bag con-l necting means for attaching a dust bag 14 thereto. A preferred form of connection maybe a metallic ring 15 having a cylinl1 be drical portion 16 engaging the bag fabric in a dust proof, clamped relationand a coniform portion 17 adapted to engage a complementary surface of a coniform flange on the elbow member 12. The ring l5 is slotted to provide a bayonet lock joint as indicated at18ofFig.1. j .W

The nozzle portion 20 of the fan casing 10 extends forwardly and downwardly from the front wall 21 of the fan casing portion 11 and may be .flared outwardly from the fan casing to provide an elongated nozzle opening 24. The opposite ends of the nozzle portion of the Casing may be suitably formed to receive and house rollers or wheels 25supporting the forward part of the cleaner casf ing with the nozzle opening in proper relation to the surfacefto be cleaned.

The air passageway extending from the nozzleopening 24 into the fan casing may terminate in a large circular opening indi-v cated at 27 and which may be concentric relative to the center of the fan 30. I show the fan casing and nozzle as being formed integrally but these casing portions may be Separate members suitably jointed in any convenient manner. -If desired, a brush 32, may be disposed within the'nozzle with the bristles thereof extending through the nozzle opening 24 to contact with the surface to be cleaned, and may be mechanically driven, through gear connections,`byk the forward wheel members 25 in the 4manner I have described and claimed in my patent application No. 643,041, led June 2, i923.

The mechanical motor for driving the suction fan may be a simple mechanism completely housed by a detachable portion of the suction, cleaner Casing whereby the ac-` curate assembling of the respective parts of the motor mechanism and the fan may be greatly facilitated during the manufacturjing thereof. ,y I accomplish this result by arranging the rear portion ofthe cleaner casing in such manner that the fan v assembled upon a horizontally disposed shaft 31, during the assembling of the mechanical motor on a detachable housing which may carry all the elements of the vmotor including the shaft. I therefore, provlde a large opening in the rear wall 33 of the fan housing portion of the casing 10 which is of suiicient dimension to receive or. permit insertion of the fan in the casing when the fan is mounted upon the shaft 31..

To simplify the motor mechanism referred to, I form a worm 35 directly on the shaft 31, the shaft'31 being enlarged in diameter for this purpose and for the purpose of forming bearing shoulders as indicated at 36. The shaft is supported on bearings indicated at 37 which are' positioned in suitable lbearing' portions 38 lformed on the forward and rearward walls 30 may bel erally extending screw lugs 78 may carried by the casing member 42. The drive ing-gear 43 is rotatably supported upon the transverse shaft 44, as stated above, but is rotatablev independently of the latter and is drivingly connected thereto through a oneway clutch mechanism.

The clutch mechanism may comprise a` cup-shaped annular member 52 attached to a hub portion of the driving gear 43 by bolts 54, a sleeve member 55 rigidly secured to the transverse shaft 44 by any suitable meanssuch as a taper pin 56, a pair of disc members 57 rigidly mounted on'the sleeve 55 and roller members 58 (see Fig. 5) which are carried by' and disposed within -notches 59 formed about the perimeter of the disc members 57. The latter members and the sleeve 5 6 comprise the` driving portion of the clutch. To maintain the rollers in place as Well as in proper alignment whereby the axis thereof will at all times be parallel with the axis of the shaft 44, I provide a thin disc 62 disposed between. the two .clutch discs 5.7 and which is of sufficient diameter to extendradially into the notches 59. This centrally disposed disc member 62 .may engage the rollers in grooves 58a formed therein, thus preventing lateraldisplacement of the rollers. Rigidly mounted on each end of the shaft 44are driving wheels 65 and l 66 which may be secured thereto by pin members 67, see Fig. 4.

The top wall of the motor casing 42 may comprise a removable closure member which may slidably engage suitable grooves formed in the casing or if desired may be held in place by pin or screw members (not shown). To .attach the mechanical motor when assembled on the casing member 42, I provide a fan casing closure member in the nature of a plate such as is indicated at 76 in Fig. 3, to which the casing member 42 lmay be secured by screw members 77. Latbe formed on the casing side walls 47 and 48 in positions which permit accessibility to the screws 77. It will thus be understood that the plate 76 serves 'as an intermediate attaching means extending between the house ing or casing member 42 and the nozzle and fan casing 10 and that it should be in assembled relation to the casing member 42 before the fan 30 is .attached tothe fan shaft 3l. A

Since the fan overlapsl the exhaust port 13, due to the latter being positioned` close to the 'fan casing inlet to obtain a direct air passagewayV from nozzle to bag,-I find4 it preferable to cutaway those portions of the the passageway.

, Worm 35 as hereinbefore stated.

shaft 31 to eliminate all play"` A sui-table bail 72 may span the motor casing 42 and may be pivotally attached thereto by screw members 73, the latter -beingproperly shouldered to permit the tightening and securing thereof to the casing 42 while permitting a free swinging movement of the bail when swung by a handle 74 secured to the top thereof.

It will be noted that in-my present motor construction therel are only two shafts which must be properly aligned whereby a high degree of eiiciency will be obtained in the power transmission from the driving gear 43 tothe worm 35. This accuracy in aligning the shaft members 31 and 44 is greatly simplified in the manufacturing process b having the bearing members or portions or the res ective shafts all formed on the casing mem er 42 whence the bored openings which receive the various bearing or journal members for the shafts, may b e 'completed while the housing member 42 is carried in a boring fixture. Thus, it will be seen that the bearings for the fan shaft 3l may be positioned in suitable bored openings which are formed from the rear end Vof the casing 42 and in one Aboring operation, whence the inner bearing member 37 may be readily pressed in place while the outer bearing member 37a maybe retained by a closure plug 7 0 which engages the end of thisv bearing member. This arrangement also contributes an adjustable characteristic whereby bearing member-37a may be properly adjusted lengthwise i' een the fan shaft and the bearingballs 37. It will also be noted that the openings formed in the casing for the'reception of the bearing sleeves 45 and 4G may likewisebe effected in pera'tion, while/the housing or i his arrangement of the shaft bearings is an yimportant characteristic of my invention as' it greatly decreases the est degree of efficiency in the transmission of power between the driving gear 43 and From the foregoing description it is readily apparent that many advantages are-to be derived by the use of the foregoing described vacuuin cleaner construction yfor a cleaner which is mechanically operated. The simplicity ofthe parts, the facility with which the parts may be manufactured and assembled due to this simplicity and rearwardl the distinct advantage of minimum resistance too the suction action of the fan vdue to the provision of unusually large unobstructed passageways, all add to the efficient.`

operation of 'such an economical structure.

I claim:

1. A lsuction cleaner having in combination a fan chamber, a suction nozzle in front thereof, and a 4gear houslng at the rear thereof, said suction nozzle communicating 4with a fan chamber by an entrance opening adjacent the center of theechamber, there beinglan exhaust port in the rear wall ofthe fan chamber itself Surrounded by a extending annular flange about half of w ich is directly at the rear of the region in which the fan revolves, while the rest of the flange is. connected with the fan chamber by an elbow, which` turns downwardly to be in line with a peripheral enlargement ofthe fan chamber, and a fan within the `fan chamber directly behind the,

entrance opening and overlapping the exhaust port.

2.In a suction cleaner of the type described, the combination of afan on a foreand-aft horizontal shaft, a fan casing in the form of a vertical drum with substantially parallel front and back, and a nozzle member communicating with the central region of the front, said fan casing having an upwardly and rearwardly extending elbow providing a rearwardly discharging exhaust port at the back, which exhaust port is located at one si-de of the vertical plane of the fan axis, above the horizontal plane through 'such axis and close enough to the `fan shaft so that the inner portion of the exhaust portoverlaps the region in which the fan revolves, a gear casing at the rear i the fan casing, and means-mounted on ,v e gear casing for rotating'the fan. i .f

with a fancasing and a suction nozzle communicating therewith, of a detachable plate 3. In a suction cleaner, the combination forming the rear wall o f the fan casing and provided with an opening surrounded-by a rearwardly extending annular flange to make a discharge passage from the fan chamber, a gear casing secured to said removable closure plate, a fanV shaft ournalled in the gear casing andv projecting into vthe .fan chamber, a fan on the fan shaft within the fan chamber, and means for driving the fan shaft. l

4. In a suction cleaner, thencombination with a fan casing and a suction nozzle com-4 -municating therewith, of a detachable plate forming `.the rear wall ofthe fan casing and Lprovided with an opening surrounded by a rearwardly extending annular flange. 4to make a discharge passageyfromv the fan chamber, a gear casing .removably secured to said removable closure. plate and removable as a unit therefrom, said'gear casing having a front and rear wall, a fan shaftv casing, and driving gearing within the gear journalled in bearings in the front and rear casing connecting said transverse shaft with Wall .of the gear casing respectively and the fan shaft and including an over-run- 19 projecting into the fan chamber, a fan on ning clutch.-

I 5 the fan shaft Within the fan chamber, va In testimony whereof, I hereunto aix my --transverse" driving shaft journalled in bearsignature. i ings'in the side Walls of said removable gear y l WILLIAM E. SHERBONDY. 

